“I won’t be wrong in saying a free trade agreement with U.K. is very close,” Sitharaman said at an industry conference in New Delhi.
While there isn’t a deadline to close the deal, India is committed to “a good outcome at the fastest possible speed”, its trade minister Piyush Goyal said at a separate news conference on Friday. In a panel session at the G20 summit in New Delhi, Badenoch said Goyal had promised her the FTA would be “the most ambitious free trade agreement”.On Thursday, Badenoch had told reporters that the deal was in the “final stages” and she was optimistic of a mutually beneficial deal, but she couldn’t give a deadline as the hardest bits of negotiations often came at the end.
India sees a British trade deal as crucial as it aims to become a bigger exporter, while the U.K., keen to expand trade opportunities after leaving theStill to be agreed are issues such as intellectual property rights, rules of origin and an investment treaty, and campaigners urged Britain not to demand any provisions that might undermine India’s generic drugs industry and make its products more expensive.
“We urge you to change course and drop the UK’s demands for stricter intellectual property provisions,” a letter to Badenoch signed by 120 health and development organizations said.